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EU Officials Raid Intel Offices
Eukariote writes "As part of the ongoing antitrust investigations, EU officials have raided Intel offices as well as offices of a number of IT firms manufacturing or selling computers. This follows the recent ruling by Japan's Fair Trade Commission declaring Intel's exclusionary practices illegal as well as the lawsuit filed by AMD."
Even though the wording of the last sentence in the blurb is misleading as it seems to mean that AMD's lawsuit was ruled illegal by the JFTC:
Bruce Sewell, vice president and general counsel for Intel, said: "One of the core principles of competition policy is the notion that such policies should be based on sound economics. There is a broad consensus that competition regulators should only intervene where there is evidence of harm to consumers. It is apparent the JFTC's Recommendation did not sufficiently weigh these important principles."
So, chips that *could* be faster (if companies were not using Intel compilers), less expensive, and have other better qualities (heat, size, etc), isn't good for consumers? Sorry to say Bruce, but obviously no one believes you.
Anticompetitive strongarming via financial kickbacks is probably only good for Intel's market position and the companies that are selling Intel-based machines regardless of what your and your company's spin is. Unless you can, without a shred of doubt or lies, prove otherwise, I really suggest you just shutup and comply.
Personally, I want to see Intel give back to consumers directly. Anyone who has purchased an Intel machine since AMD's introduction to the market should be given a large rebate and I'm not talking about settlements like $13.55 check or shipping mass quantities of unwanted product to schools. I don't want to see AMD get any money out of this as it will do little for the market's consumers who had to deal with the anti-competitive behavior just as much as AMD did (if not more).
Are you kiddding me? The truth is much more important than national boundaries!
And why should I care any more about people working in CA versus Canada? They have about the same impact on my economic standing.
The offices that were raided were located in Europe.
So you're saying that an EU office of Intel being raided by EU police will cause intel to move jobs away from the united states and into EU?
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What?!? Haven't you ever heard of "truth, justice, and the American Way?" It's not about jobs, or even us vs them -- it's about doing the right thing.
"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb
Why is Intel getting slapped so hard with anti trust when Microsoft seems to get away with it.
Intel does have competition. AMD, Sun, and IBM all make chips that compete with Intel in the server market.
MIPs, AMD, TI, and many more have chips that compete in the Embedded space.
And AMD seems to be doing a pretty good job competing in the PC market. Is anyone shocked that the Intel compiler wouldn't have "If SSE2 and Intel use SSE2 else use emulation in the code generator?" Intel is not the only compiler in the X86 market, you have VC and GCC as options. What Intel has done while nasty is no where as anti competitive as Microsoft's tactics.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Justice should no know bounds and no borders. We are but one human race and we should act together to protect each others interests , Enough with the xenophobic talk.
This is one American corporation Vs another American Corporation it just so happens the battle field encompasses planet earth.
IF Intel are guilty , then let the company be subject to the law and let them be prosecuted and sentenced as such , if they are innocent then they are fine and will be reprised
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though